Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

March 31, 2012

National Window Safety Week

Tomorrow, April 1, marks the beginning of National Window Safety Week. I’ve written about the dangers of open windows on several occasions in the past, notably last summer when there was a spate of Oregon injuries to children stemming from open-window accidents in the Portland area. In one particularly disturbing incident a toddler in Southeast Portland suffered a skull fracture after falling from a second-story window.

Raising awareness, and stopping preventable accidents like this, are the goals of National Window Safety Week, which is organized by Safe Kids USA (see link below).

A key element of awareness – one that should be emphasized to every parent of a small child – is the fact that screen windows offer only a false sense of security. As the Safe Kids website says: “screens keep bugs out, not kids in.” To ensure that children do not press on screens and tumble through the window, “window guards should be installed to prevent the little ones from being able to fall outside. They are easy to install and should have a release mechanism in the event of an emergency or the need to move to another window,” the website states.

March 29, 2012

Industrial Accident Claims Raised by Crane Collapse Case

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A lengthy piece published this week in the New York Times tells the sad story of a 2008 industrial accident in Manhattan and the chain of events leading up to it. It is a story of corners cut and the fatal consequences that followed: of an American employer desperate to lower costs, a Chinese supplier making inflated claims for its products and due diligence that was never done.

The fatal accident involved a construction crane that collapsed at a building site on New York’s Upper West Side as a result of a faulty weld on the crane’s turntable. As the Times notes, there has been much testimony at the manslaughter trial of the crane’s owner “about the failed weld… and how the Chinese company was unable to satisfactorily perform a vital weld on the turntable. But little has been said about another aspect of the company: its description of itself was largely inflated or simply not true.”

As the newspaper goes on to report, the Chinese company, RTR Bearing Company Limited, claimed to have a 10-year history of high-end industrial work around the globe and to employ 109 people in two factories and a quality control center. In fact, the company was barely six months old when first contacted by the New York firm that eventually bought its crane, and appears to have been little more than a 3rd party marketer of other Chinese manufacturers’ goods. In an affidavit in a related civil suit, the company’s founder acknowledged that RTR actually employs only seven people, none of them engineers, and “has no factory and does no manufacturing,” the paper reports.

March 24, 2012

Oregon Marks Poison Prevention Week

by Matthew D. Kaplan

I could not let this week come to an end without taking note of the fact that it has been National Poison Prevention Week. The March 18-24 period was marked by events here in Oregon and across the country designed to raise awareness of the dangers poisons pose to children. Safe Kids Oregon and the Oregon Poison Center were the main organizers here in the state. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of National Poison Prevention Week, which was first designated by Congress in the early 1960s.

The issues we consider during this time are important. As a news release from Safe Kids Oregon notes, “more than 90% of poisonings happen in people’s homes.” Adding that each year around 100 children aged 14 or under die from unintentional poisoning. More alarmingly, the release states that “approximately one-half of all poison-related calls to the Oregon Poison Center have to do with children ages 5 and under.”

Even more worrying is the revelation that “the greatest portion of these calls involve drugs like pain relievers.” This is noteworthy because many of us, when we think of children and accidental poisoning in the home, think of cleaning or pest control products. It is useful to be reminded that common medications can be just as deadly, especially where small children are concerned.

March 19, 2012

Discussing the Best Way to Mix Bikes and Cars on Oregon’s Streets

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The New York Times’ online forum for expert discussion, “Room for Debate,” recently published an excellent look at bike-versus-car issues. While the debate was understandably somewhat New York-centric, it raised a number of interesting points that merit some thought on our part here in Oregon.

Portland, of course, has a far more bicycle-friendly reputation than New York City. As we have seen on too many occasions, however, that fact alone is not enough to ensure that urban bike riding here in Oregon is as safe as it ought to be, or that Portland bike and car accidents become as rare and unusual as they should.

As one of the participants, author Peter Calthorpe, writes “The answers are simple: create safe bike lanes, generous pedestrian spaces, visible, and short crossings and narrow car lanes to slow traffic.” As he readily acknowledges, this is easier said than done. It is important, though, to remember that this discussion is far from theoretical. As another participant, Yale Law School professor Tracey Meares, notes, on taking over as Miami police chief a few years ago John Timoney discovered “that vehicular homicides outnumbered ‘regular’ homicides.”

March 16, 2012

Traumatic Brain Injury Concern Helps Spur Anti-Fighting Movement in Youth Hockey

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An excellent online article at Motherlode, the New York Times’ parenting blog, considers the question of fighting and youth hockey. I have written on a number of occasions about the risk here in Oregon of traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries in sports, especially at the college and pro levels and in heavily physical sports such as football and hockey.

The Times article, however, looks closely at the question of youth hockey. This level of the sport needs to receive more attention not only because it involves children, but also because children are more prone to injuries than highly trained (and better-equipped) professionals. On a deeper level, youth sports also require our attention because it is here that young athletes establish habits that can be extremely difficult to break as children become teens and teens become adults.

As Motherlode notes, the NCAA long ago proved that you can have exciting hockey games without fighting, “but youth hockey has so far followed the lead of the National Hockey League and allowed – even tacitly encouraged – fighting in some youth leagues for players from 16 to 20.” Now, however, the article notes that USA Hockey and Hockey Canada are both considering rule changes that would effectively outlaw fighting in non-professional leagues throughout North America, possibly as early as next season.

March 14, 2012

Oregon Traumatic Brain Injuries and the Link to PTSD

by Matthew D. Kaplan

An important article recently published in Science Daily offered details of a new study providing the first scientific evidence linking traumatic brain injuries to post-traumatic stress disorder. This development is especially important because it confirms something that many people who follow the issue have, until now, known only anecdotally.

Through numerous books and movies PTSD has come to be associated with war and other trauma-inducing disasters. The new study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, however, offers “the first evidence of a causal link between traumatic brain injury and an increased susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder,” according to Science Daily.

The article notes that “the reasons for this correlation are unknown.” It is not possible at this time to say whether the apparent link between traumatic brain injuries and PTSD is physical or psychological. The fact that the source of the link is difficult to determine is, however, less important than the fact that it exists. The first step in beginning to recover from an Oregon traumatic brain injury is to understand the long-term consequences that may accompany the injury. Only by doing this can victims move past the initial shock of the injury and begin the healing process.

March 9, 2012

Portland Workplace Safety Issues Highlighted By Factory’s Poor Report Card

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The revelation by The Oregonian last week that Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency has levied over $26,000 in fines against Precision Castparts was a reminder of the importance of Oregon workplace safety, and of the need for both regulatory and legal vigilance as we all struggle to prevent Oregon industrial accidents.

According to the newspaper, the company was cited for “32 violations at its large parts campus in Milwaukie and Southeast Portland, raising significant safety concerns for the third time since 2008.” Citing an Oregon OSHA spokeswoman, the paper notes that some of the violations “were repeats.” The overall list of infractions focused mainly on “cleaning operations in the two plants.” The company manufacturers parts for airplane engines and industrial gas turbines. It also does work for the military.

It is good to read that none of the safety violations cited by OSHA were deemed to be “willful” on the company’s part – the most serious category. Still, the newspaper reports, “28 were serious, with nine having the potential to cause death.”

March 2, 2012

Oregon Industrial Accident Questions Surround Man’s Death on Barge

by Matthew D. Kaplan

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division is investigating the circumstances of a fatal Oregon workplace industrial accident late last month involving a man who fell into a chemical holding tank aboard a barge on the Willamette River, according to local TV station KOIN.

According to The Oregonian, the Portland Fire Department’s hazmat rescue team was called to the barge near Swan Island after workers realized one of their colleagues was missing and that he had last been seen standing near an open hatch aboard what the newspaper describes as “a 40-feet-by-50-feet barge filled with a toxic and corrosive chemical liquid called lignin amine…. (which) is often used to spray fruit trees.”

When rescue crews arrived they found the hatch leading to one of the barge’s tanks open and the man’s body at the bottom, the newspaper reports. The Oregonian quotes a member of the Portland Fire & Rescue team describing the tank as a “double hazard,” noting both the extremely confined space inside the tank and the hazardous materials it contained. According to the paper, the atmosphere at the bottom of the tank contained only 1% oxygen, guaranteeing that the victim would have perished within minutes of falling in. While standard safety procedures would have required wearing a life vest, the paper says it is unclear whether the victim was doing so – though granted the lack of air inside the tank it is not likely that a vest would have saved him.

February 29, 2012

Washington Propane Explosion Raises Industrial Accident Concerns

by Matthew D. Kaplan

A serious Washington propane explosion last week injured five people and briefly placed a nearby school at risk, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

The Washington industrial accident took place near Mukilteo, in the Greater Seattle area. The news agency, citing a local fire district spokesperson, reported that “a 1,000 gallon tank was being loaded onto a truck to be taken to the construction site when it blew up.” Five people injured in the last were transported to a Seattle-area hospital. Students at a nearby elementary school were confined to their building for a time because of the possibility that debris might still be in the air.

As I have noted in earlier blogs, propane explosions are one of the most common types of industrial accidents in both Washington and Oregon. They are also one of the most readily preventable. Propane is an inherently unstable substance, but with proper procedures the dangers associated with it can be reduced significantly. The laws of Washington industrial accidents and Oregon industrial accidents are designed specifically to encourage people handling this and similar substances to exercise caution.

February 27, 2012

Oregon Bike Safety to be Focus of Charity Event

by Matthew D. Kaplan

Six months after a Portland bicycle and car crash landed him in intensive care, retired football star Joey Harrington is working to put that experience to good use, according to Bike Portland. Harrington plans to combine his celebrity with his experience as an Oregon bike accident victim to promote children’s bicycle safety.

Bike Portland reports that the fundraiser, the “Bridge to Breakers – Helmets for Kids” ride, will be a 100-mile group ride on September 30. According to a statement released by the Harrington Family Foundation “the foundation would like to channel the attention from this accident to educate our community to the hazards associated with bicycle travel with the aim of reducing and preventing injuries to children.”

The injuries the former Oregon and NFL star suffered last August brought attention to Portland bicycle safety issues. He was clipped from behind by a passing car and, according to newspaper reports around the time of the accident, only avoided a severe Oregon traumatic brain injury because he was wearing a helmet.